The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 33: Chapter 31: New Orb of Light and Great Terror

As for the ten days off a month, that was probably a lost cause unless they assigned someone else here.

Still, there was nothing to complain about. After all, countless people would kill for this position.

After getting everything settled, he made himself some food and had a relaxing dinner in the courtyard under a sky full of stars.

Zhang Deming rested and contemplated for a long while before finally returning to his bedroom.

He took out the Agility Technique he had acquired today, opened the editing panel, and navigated to the warehouse.

After the day’s events, his one and a half white light orbs had condensed significantly. The half-formed orb was now on the verge of solidifying.

The light orbs had appeared several days ago, but since he didn’t have any Techniques to use them with, Zhang Deming had never examined them closely.

When Zhang Deming’s gaze fell upon the complete light orb, he froze for a moment.

’This is...?’

’A new light orb?’

In the warehouse, a white light orb, seemingly no different from the previous one, lay there quietly.

But when Zhang Deming focused his Heart Spirit on it, a Rune for ’Sequence’ flickered and bobbed on its surface.

’Sequence?’

Combined with the previous ’Branch’ Rune, Zhang Deming, who had already had his suspicions, was now almost certain. The Runes on these light orbs represented the three fundamental structures of programming.

Sequence, Branch, and Loop.

He had suspected as much when he saw the ’Branch’ Rune, but he hadn’t been able to confirm it.

Now, the appearance of ’Sequence’ all but confirmed his theory.

Zhang Deming focused his Heart Spirit on the light orb, and a prompt appeared on the panel again.

”Ordinary Energy: 1. Can edit small-scale plug-in.

Editing conditions met!

Currently, only the Dantian Disc category is unlocked. Please input a command to jump to the Dantian category and begin plug-in editing.

This is a ’Sequence’ structure. Due to the nature of this structure, it lacks universal applicability for all Techniques and is only suitable for compiling specific content.

Furthermore, please consider the content of your compilation carefully and with caution.

No trial runs, no clipboard. You are solely responsible for any malformed plug-ins that result from compilation.”

Reading the prompt, Zhang Deming’s brow furrowed. ’Solely responsible again, huh...’

’And ”Sequence” lacks universal applicability? Does that mean it can’t be used to code all Techniques?’

’How odd. Of the three fundamental structures of programming, Sequence should be the most basic.’

’A Sequence, as the name implies, executes code in the order it’s written, one line after another. It’s like reading a book from start to finish—hence the name ”Sequence”.’

’A Branch, on the other hand, splits the code into two paths based on a condition.’

’In other words, an ”if-else” statement.’

’If the condition is met, one block of code is executed. If not, the other block is executed. That’s why it’s called a ”Branch”.’

’A Loop also operates based on a condition. As long as that condition—think of a ”while” statement—is met, the code will execute repeatedly, only breaking out of the loop when the condition is no longer true.’

’Among these three fundamental structures, Sequence should have been the most basic and the least likely to have any special restrictions.’

’All code execution is built on the foundation of the Sequence structure.’

’So why would it lack universal applicability now? Is it because of some issue with the effects of Magic code written with a Sequence structure?’

Filled with doubt, Zhang Deming still entered ’/Dantian’.

’After all, coding is like that. You can think about it all day, but you won’t know anything for sure until you actually test it.’

The light orb in the warehouse vanished, as did the Agility Technique manual in his hand. Zhang Deming let out a breath of relief. ’At least the Agility Technique meets the requirements for the Sequence orb.’

Zhang Deming: Dantian > {Agility Technique}.

Zhang Deming: ”???!!!”

Staring at the code, which was so simple he didn’t even know where to begin criticizing it, Zhang Deming’s mind went blank for a second.

It was too simple—so simple that he had no idea where to even begin his cautious compilation, let alone how to prevent the plug-in from becoming malformed.

However, as Zhang Deming mulled it over and slowly began to understand, he grew incredibly excited.

He finally understood why the Sequence structure lacked universal applicability.

The Branch structure relied on conditional execution. This perfectly mirrored the process of Casting in the real world: it starts with the conditional desire to cast a spell and ends with its successful execution.

In other words, it requires a condition to run.

Therefore, the Branch structure is a perfect fit for Casting and possesses complete universal applicability in the real world.

This is because everything in life works that way: a need or condition arises first, and then an action or result follows.

The Sequence structure, however, has no conditional limits. Whatever is compiled is what runs, period.

To put it simply, this can be accurately described with a single gaming term.

A Branch structure creates an active Skill.

And a Sequence structure... compiles a passive Skill!!!

And this wasn’t a game. In the real world, passive Skills were unbelievably powerful!!!

Zhang Deming was thrilled. This ’Sequence’ orb was basically a trump card!

Although he wanted to compile it immediately to see the passive effect...

...the habits ingrained from years of coding in his previous life stopped him from acting on impulse.

He took a couple of deep breaths, and only when his excitement had subsided did he begin to consider the matter carefully.

’I have to be extremely careful. Passives are powerful, no doubt, but that warning from the panel can’t have been for nothing, right?’

’And since this is my first time compiling a passive Skill, I absolutely have to be careful not to create something malformed.’

After a long while, Zhang Deming finally began, adding just a few lines of code.

{Then, Agility Technique runs successfully}

Staring at the code, Zhang Deming fell into thought again. ’I feel like I’m missing something...’

But he couldn’t put his finger on it. He shook his head and started to work backward, considering the potential effects of this code.

’Once this passive is created, it should be like a weaker version of The Flash, right?’

’Wait!!!’

’The Flash... of course! I almost forgot!’

’That could have been a disaster.’

He remembered the heroes from his past life—The Flash, Da Chao, all those DC superheroes. What was the biggest impression their Superpowers had left on him?

’The immense strength to tear steel with their bare hands?’

’Their invulnerable, bulletproof bodies?’

’The sanctimonious ”No, we don’t have the right to decide who lives or dies” attitude?’

’The endless ”we need to talk” lectures?’

’The ”Run, Barry, run!” finale?’

No, none of those were the most profound impressions.

The most profound impression was the agony Barry felt after gaining his super speed, when the world around him slowed to a painful, frame-by-frame crawl.

The most profound was Superman’s helplessness. After gaining immense strength and a body of steel, he could only admire his girlfriend from afar, filled with the pent-up frustration of not even daring to fool around with her.

And what caused all this suffering? Their powerful passive abilities.

Just like Barry. After gaining his passive super speed, his entire life turned into super slow-motion—a complete and utter torture.

And compared to Barry, Da Chao’s situation was even more tragic.

He could only look at his girlfriend. Even if he could restrain his passionate impulses during... intimacy... and choose to just lie there passively like a dead fish, the high velocity of certain... bodily reactions... wasn’t something he could consciously control.